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Sunday, December 30, 2012

So 2012 is over, many things happened, and yet I still survived! As chatted with BuRock, we decided to do a year end results tally.

It was the year of changing positions at my day job, it was where I begun to expand to clients outside of Turkey, and it was where I began to really coin my phrase of being the home for Mass Production Painting style. Literally. I have spent more time at my painting desk than I have in many other locations.

Though at times this has been difficult due to travel for work, but somehow I have been steady in my painting count.

With this in mind, and being the end of the year, it was only natural to go back and look at some of the things that I have painted, and look at the quantity as well as the quality of the last year.

For me, it was mass commission year. Starting with the Dark Elf commission here in Turkey, and working over to a larger commission from a UK client for Imperial Guard. Finishing off the year with the Space Wolf army for another local. There was of course a few armies of my own such as the Night Goblins, and starting up my Daemons of Chaos. I also tried new scales such as Dystopian Wars, and also a 54mm scale Dwarf for BuRock as well.

It was also a tough year with regards to gaming, as I took quite a few licks from the local community with regards to tournament play. Having my fair share of complications and altercations throughout the year that has moved me more from gaming to painting with each passing incident.

Izmircon incident where I faced off against a very aggressive opponent that tested my patience for gaming in Turkey.Metucon incident where I attempted to work with the new local authority of tournament play in Turkey, only to be tormented by the judges.

Upside though is that I had a productive year with regards to painting. Completing huge number of models.. . Don't believe me? Here is the break down below.. beware.. it is quite the long winded article..

Dark Elves.. a project that started in 2011, but was not finished until this year. Model count::205
37 Dark Elf Crossbows
50 Dark Elf Corsairs
24 DE Ex
13 DE Harpies
12 CW Cav
20 DE COR
4 DE Pegasus
20 DE Shades
2 DE Bolt Throwers
4 DE BT Crew
2 DE Spear
1 DE Hydra
1 DE Assissin
1 DE Dreadlord
1 DE Sorcerer
1 DE Beastmaster on Manticore
1 DE Corsair Hero
4 DE Beastmasters
2 DE Queens
1 DE Hero
2 DE Heros on CO
1 Cauldron of Blood1 DE Naked Girl

Highlight of painting this army aside from the naked girl being my best article was the freehand attempts.. such as the Angry Squid Banner.

From here I began the UK projects for Zzzzzz and his horde of Imperial Agents for Chaos. Model count ( and growing ) 493

Highlights of this army was the 2 days of painting. Completing no less than 100 Imperial Guards of the Renegade variety within those 48 hrs.

Final touch ups to my own army of Night Goblins were also completed. I can almost say that it is completely finished ( but can an army ever be really finished? ) with a lot of models being completed prior to our epic match in Ankara this past spring. Model count 154

Another army was the Space Wolves which I have been working on and off with for the past 6 months. Can't say it has been the best experience but anything you can live through just makes you stronger yes? Model count 84

My Daemons of Chaos which are my go to army now and forever really. One that I just can't seem to pull away from, regardless of how well, or how bad the rules pla out at times. Below is just a sample of what I have on the table, and what I have left to work on. Model count 157

And this brings us to the end, which sees the final total to be a staggering 1163 models/items/scenery pieces that I have worked on and completed this year. Not bad.. more so considering that I have taken on a new position, and all the travel I had to do throughout the year. Next year won't be any different with more projects that I will be working on.. some might even be sitting on this table..

So enjoy the festivities where ever you are, and hope your new year is as good as it can be.

Leader of the Wolves while out fighting the enemy of the Imperium he is.

Oldest bad ass out of the bunch he claims to be.

Made of failcast he is, and a complete bugger to remove the mold lines, injection sites, and air vents that pop up everywhere on these models.

At least his weapon is on straight, which is more than I can say about his friend Arjac.

This was an interesting model to paint up, and was asked to make it in my best quality possible. So that is what I attempted while still making sure it fit with the rest of the army. Again, just like the other characters, his armor has a bit more of a blue hue in it than the normal line troopers. Not a bad thing as it helps to make him stand out a bit.

Only things that I was told to ensure I had with him was the grey/white beard, and a reddish weapon. I also went with a lot more paler face skin tone here by added some grey into the mix. Have to say that I really like how this one came out though, and I might experiment some more like this in the future.

His ax came out nicely as well though. Using the airbrush to attempt some shading through it, and then touching it up with normal brush. Again, something that I will try more of in the future, but it had a nice effect and I think I am getting better at this whole power weapon thingy now!

More photos below..

Still need to add snow to the base, but I will be doing that en-mass to the entire army at the same time. Most probably next week or weekend that will happen.

Just finishing up Arjac now, and most probably he will be the last model that I will complete for this year. The final year's tally will be posted up tomorrow.. so anyone who has been following can see how crazy I have been this year with regards to painting!

Cheers and enjoy the rest of the weekend.. am off to go and play a game of Fantasy.. last game of the year and using ETC rules for an up-coming tournament. Which will be my first games of the year!

Of course other great artists from the German region like those 2 crazy guys from Massive Voodoo, Raffa and Roman, were involved. 2 artists that I would like to meet one day, be it for a side visit or for one of their painting classes.

And recently Uli has put up his special forces model that I got to see in person during the workshop. Great guy that really helped me out while in Eschweiler for the painting class. Great guy, so if your lucky enough to be on the site, give him your praise for his works!

If you have a chance to check it out, do so! I am hopeful that one day I could be on the site, and have something that is worthy of being shown on it! 2013 is the year where I will be trying to improve my painting even more and get into this realm display painting and such painting styles!

So the link once more, is here for Putty&Paint.. go.. have a look.. and if you know of it already, then post up about it as much as you can as well!

Would post some photos from it on here, but honestly.. it is hard to pick which ones to choose.. so best to just keep saying.. go and check it out!

Friday, December 28, 2012

Yes, more shades for an older commission project. A lot of fun to revisit these guys and the color scheme. I can't say how much fun it was to paint the purple once again. I have to really say that I miss it.. though not sure if I would want to paint up another 200+ of them ;)

Sans basing due to the client having the basing materials currently. Still have to finish the free hand on the pegasi models.. but that will be done another day, as I begin a more secretive project that I will begin now..

So yeah.. let's see how the weekend goes, and how the new year celebrations go as well.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Yay! Christmas portion of the holidays are over, so back to a "normal" vacation period where I can focus on painting once more! :)

With that being said, here is the first unit finished so far.. a unit of 10 Bloodletters of Khorne. Not afixed to their bases yet, but the painting portion is over.

As state in the last post concerning the test model, I was not happy on how long it took to get that effect. So I tried it again, but in a darker scheme, and something that wouldn't make me ( more ) grey to finish up! So check out his friends..

And another shot where the background is almost completely removed from the photo.. I like this style better even if it doesn't show off the model in the greatest shape/color.

And now I will paint up 3 more Shades for the old Dark Elf commission. Seems he cannot win without them. He even tried to paint one of them up, but I think his colors were a bit off compared to the originals..

Original Shades painted by me..

And his attempt to copy it..

As you can see.. it is a bit off in coloring.. and the photos do it no more justice than it should deserve :) So I will give them a quick paint job, and hope I can get that purple color the same as it was previously. Though the skin will probably come out better now that I have even more practice with it, and getting better with it overall now as well.

Peace out, and blog more laters.. the summary post is still being written for 2012.. and it is quite the tally for 2012 :)

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

So it is Christmas.. the snow in Istanbul has fallen, and left us. My son has woken up, and begun to rip through the presents laid under the tree. Since I am writing this up the evening before, I am hoping that he is enjoying all the presents. Plenty of Lego sets, PS3 gear like the Book of Secrets. Probably playing it now with the wife and I.

In the meantime, here is a test model for my old OOP Khorne Bloodletters. It took a bit longer than I liked however, so although I have base coated the others in red with this scheme, the rest of it took forever. So will be redoing them now in something that is a bit easier to deal with, and allowing more of the model to be covered in other base colors. Like the chocolate brown, or black.

Anyways.. here is a shot of it.. front/back.. need to make the color transitions for the red more. Deeper browns for the recesses, and brighter red/orange for the highlights. However the metals, fur, and blade I think I like, and will keep. Metal has some green glaze to it, to age it a bit, and was based on a chocolate brown base to make the brass/bronze a bit more darker to contrast more with the skin.

As far as the photos go.. I am still experimenting.. but I am liking the pure black background that is going with it. It is something that I have struggled with for a long time, so I am happy with it, but the colors are not coming out quite as well as I would like still. I will try to print out some more detailed or patterned backgrounds though like that from Corvus's blog. He has a couple nice ones there that might work nicely for taking photos in the future.

Anyway.. if your reading this today.. all I can say is go back to your family and enjoy the Christmas day. But do come back the day afterwards.. I'm sure I will have more photos of something or another ;)

Monday, December 24, 2012

Ok to these are for my Nomad faction in Infinity. Models that have been said to be finished or in a semi finished state for far too long!

The hacker on the left I thought was finished until I was working on the Moran Hunter. I say this, cause after doing up the gun for the Moran, I looked back at the Hacker, and said hell no! So a touch up was required.

For the hacker, I updated his chest plate, his leg bands, and his gun. Plus his arm bands. To give it a bit more of a NMM ( poorly but attempted anyway ) for them and the gun.

For the Moran, he has been finished for a while in all areas except skin and metals. So I went to work on those sections there for him. I like how the skin came out honestly, and the NMM on the guns and such. It was the white gloves that I was not sure of, but they are growing on me. It is actually what prompted me to redo parts of the Hacker itself.

I have kept the cloak simple on because I wanted to make him look more simple, and make it seem like he can blend into things a bit better. Since he is not so flashy and all. It should work with regards to his rules for being a minimalist camouflage ability.

Was difficult to photography him on the black background, but in the end I think I got it.

These 2 guys will be part of my Tale of Skirmishers pledge on Warseer for December. Not sure what I will start for that tale next month, but this is good enough for this month as I have other projects that need attention.

Expect a lot of posts this week as it is holiday week for me, and I am hopeful for a lot of time painting!

And to everyone back home.. enjoy the holidays.. hope there is a nice dinner where ever you are.. and have a slice of pumpkin pie for me!

Njal.. in both Power and Terminator armor, and a Wolf Priest band together in this update. Showing their glowing rods of power, and pushing forth their faith in psychic storms.

Tried to paint these to some of my better levels, however the non-terminator armored ones are not exactly that detailed enough to go into them too far. Mandates for them was to have Njal ( both versions ) to have red beards, and the staffs glowy. Same for the wolf priest, sans red beard. I think the black hair looks better with him though.

And then the terminator version of Njal.. though this one doesn't have a crow. Seems it saved him from a lascannon shot in a previous life. and all that is left are the crow feet for good luck going forward. Or at least that is how I see it as there is no crow in the parts for this army, so nothing to add here. :(

I really tried to make all the runes, and eyes on the pelt glow here. To show that he is imbued with psychic power.. not sure if it came off all that well, but I attempted it all the same.

Not much left here.. just Arjac and Logan in Failcast format. Both have warped weapons, and unfortunately not much I cna do to save them. So they will be a bit "different" from the norm I guess. After reading online concerning these failcasts, and trying to fix them. I see more horror stories than success stories. So what can you do sometimes?

Another post showing some Infinity Nomads to come soon as well!

Also, how are the photos? Better? Worse? Always looking for comments on them.. There are heavy shadows on them due to the way this new light tent operates, but still I think it is working nicely. Thankfully I am painting things these days with a downward light source ;)

Friday, December 21, 2012

With the photo tent assembled, I have begun taking some test shots. Looking at trying to find the best combo available within it.

First thing I have found.. the stock lights that came with it are not good enough. Plus they are placed directly above the item. Considering that this tent is for eBay item photos, I am not surprised. So I am using the normal lights I have for painting with it as well.

So below are a couple of shots of one of the dog cav, against different backgrounds. Let me know which you think are the better ones..

And one of the other items I worked on last night was a FW Khorne Terminator head. Was a kind of test on another skin recipe, and also on the Khorne Red colorings that will come with the actual Khorne models soon to show up. Took me a while to paint up, but I really liked how it came out though. But it was an absolute pain to take a photo of it though.